LongBeachCulture.org CenterStage Blog

Presents

What: The Greater Long Beach Directors of Volunteers (GLBDoV), a group convened by the Long Beach Nonprofit Partnership, is presenting this free to the public event

When: Thursday, October 12, 2– 7 pm

Where: Alpert Jewish Community Center, 3801 E. Willow Street , Long Beach . Free parking at the AJCC and/or across the street at The Grand.

Why: To attract and recruit volunteers to nonprofit organizations in the Greater Long Beach area.

Who should attend: All community members interested in volunteering.

Benefits: Learn about & meet with representatives from local organizations who seek volunteers to determine where you can volunteer & make a difference!

Program: Exhibition hall open throughout the afternoon, from 2pm to 7 pm.

More Information: Call Susan Frisk at (562) 290-0018 or email: sfrisk@lbnp.org .

Registration form: View here.

Flyer: View here.

We hope you’ll join us!

Sincerely,

Susan Frisk

Information Services Manager

Long Beach Nonprofit Partnership

As you may already know, a series of forums were held recently to explore the challenges, opportunities, and priorities facing the creative community in Long Beach. These forums arose from a series of informal mixers started by the Creativity Network which was co-founded by Arts Council Executive Board member Antonio Pedro Ruiz. These mixers brought together local arts professionals, leaders of arts organizations, and others in the creative community. Everyone agreed that the City would benefit from a clear, unified vision, a Master Plan for the City’s creative and cultural efforts. The forums were an effort to create focus for advocacy efforts in support of a Cultural Master Plan.

We are pleased and proud to publish the initial results from these first two forums. We’ve decided to distribute them in the form of a PDF document.

DOWNLOAD THE DOCUMENT HERE

You’ll need a PDF viewer to read the document. Adobe Acrobat Reader is the “official” reader, but people in the know use Foxit PDF Reader. Both are free, but Foxit is a much smaller download.

If, for whatever reason, you are unable to view this document, please contact Antonio directly for an alternate version.

The U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary’s Basic Coastal Navigation course is a comprehensive course designed for both the experienced and the novice boater.

Basic Coastal Navigation is an introduction to coastal piloting. This is a course for boaters covering Introduction to Coastal Navigation; The Marine Magnetic Compass; The Nautical Chart; The Navigator’s Tools and Instruments; Dead Reckoning; and Piloting.

Many insurance companies will offer discounts on boat insurance to individuals who successfully complete courses such as these along with Sailing Fundamentals
or Boating Skills and Seamanship.

All students who successfully complete the course and pass the exam are awarded certificates.

U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 03-03 will be holding a class this class on Thursday Nights from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

This Class begins on October 12, 2006 and will be held
at:

Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
11600 Los Alamitos Boulevard
Los Alamitos, CA 90720

For general information contact Doug Conwell
(562-431-0326) or email him at conwellfour@yahoo.com

PACIFIC OVERTURES – LONG BEACH OPERA’S 29th ANNUAL GALA and AUCTION

gourmet cuisine – appetizers, complete dinner with wine, beverages and dessert, open bar, jazz band, dancing, hundreds of items in Silent and Live Auctions.

AUCTION ITEMS: A cruise to Alaska, trips to NYC and Sante Fe among others, restaurants, unusual outings, art, jewelry and much more.

SPECIAL TREAT: Performance by award winning traditional Asian Musicians Celestial Echo.

GUEST OF HONOR: Mayor Bob Foster, City of Long Beach

Dress: Black tie optional or Asian-influenced attire

Date/Time: 6:00 PM Oct 21, 2006

Location: Virginia Country Club, 4602 Virginia Road, Long Beach 90807

Price: $200 per person; Discounted tables of 8 – $1,450.

Tickets: Tickets can be purchased by telephone at (562) 439-2580, by mail or in person at 100 W. Broadway, Suite 110, LB, CA. 90802 or on our secure web site

www.longbeachopera.org

NOTE: Funds raised help cover the costs of LBO ‘s education programs and productions. Long Beach Opera is a 501 ( c ) (3) non-profit organization.

September 13th:

$have at The Writers Garage at DiPiazza

The Writers Garage Features Neal Pollack performing and reading in this rare long beach appearance. Author of “Beneath the Axis of Evil: One Man’s Journey into the Horrors of War”, “Never Mind the Pollacks: A Rock and Roll Novel”, “The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature” and “Chicago Noir”, has been called the greatest living american writer Fresh and rested from vacation we would anticipate material from “Alternadad” scheduled for release in January.

“Dos” featuring Legendary punk bass man Mike Watt, formerly of the Minutemen and now with Iggy and Stooges plays alongside longtime friend and only female member ever of Black Flag, Kira Roessler. Two basses rockin’ songs in the lower octaves, this amazing band has been around since 1983.

Long Beach is home for the band called “Shave” They have been heavy rockin from their first album in 1996 “Jesus Shaves” to the latest release “Trans Universal Worldwide”

Mike Martt formerly of Thelonious Monster hosts and plays with his three piece piano band called the Suicide Door

“Come for dinner, stay for drinks”

7pm Mike Martt and the suicide door
8pm Neal Pollack
9pm Dos with Mike Watt and Kira
10pm Shave

About the Writers Garage

We are every Wednesday starting in August. If you are a pissed off
liberal, a disenfranchised conservative, conspiracy theorist, writer,
thinker, rock music fan, reader, free speech advocate, folk singer,
protester, here we are. Weekly we will try to bring together writers of
novels,music,magazine,radio,talk and rock to shed light on the dark
area’s of american life. You are invited to join us for dinner and
drinks starting at 7pm every Wednesday @ Dipiazzas Lava Lounge,
5205 E. Pacific Coast Highway ,
Long Beach, CA 90804 -
562-498-2461
Cost $8

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The Creativity Network of Long Beach and LongBeachCulture.org
sponsor a community forum to seek answers and solutions

BUILDING A MASTER CULTURAL PLAN FOR
LONG BEACH‘S CREATIVE COMMUNITY

“Building a master cultural plan for the Long Beach creative community” is the continuing theme in the second of a series of community forums organized to spark dialogue. The next forum is Wednesday, September 6, from 7-9pm at 2nd City Council Art Gallery + Performance Space, 435 Alamitos Avenue, Long Beach. Their telephone number is (562) 901-0997. Free parking is available next door in a parking lot.

The Creativity Network and LongBeachCulture.Org are seeking broad community participation. The results of these forums will be posted on various websites including LongBeachCulture.org and widely distributed to the creative community, City Hall and the Arts Council for Long Beach.

On August 2nd, a forum held at the Koos Art Center in the East Village generated a long list of questions and common issues facing the creative community in Long Beach. The September 6th forum will explore answers to the questions raised and solutions to the issues identified. The long list includes the following:

ADVOCACY AND POLICY

1. Invite all arts agencies, artists, businesses to participate in the development of the arts district
2. Out of the 16 goals set in the 1996 Community Cultural Plan, how many are in place today?
3. Make artist spaces available: Studios, apartments and exhibition spaces for artists by providing affordable “cheap” live/work spaces (meanwhile, not demolishing existing ones)
4. Arts Training and Education: Engagement of LBUSD: K-12 and full course offerings in visual and performing arts at all high schools
5. Set quality levels through promotion of more juried art shows
6. Invest in artists and institutions-demand this of the City Council
7. A true advocate for the arts community at the City Council level, to keep plans on track and arts focused
8. Arts Exchange that promotes these three things: (a) Businesses, Artists, Art related events (b) Supports art related grants/activities for artists and services galleries (c) Community publicity information exchange: TV, radio, print media, internet-networking
9. Revise Entertainment permitting
10. Tax incentives for Creative Industries
11. Free weekend parking in the Arts District
12. Promotion of the arts in the city
13. Create an active dynamic network of galleries. Support/promote galleries

PROGRAMS

1. Provide opportunities for youth-particularly low income youth-to experience art
2. Centralize and coordinate art information for the city
3. Mentoring programs for artists as entrepreneurs
4. Create an incubator for the arts

FUNDING

1. Define City of Long Beach Arts Budget: Establish priorities
2. Can a no-name artist get funding?

The Creativity Network of Long Beach is an informal network of visual artists, television producers, and members of the performing arts. Gallery owners, arts administrators, and art lovers are also represented. Founded last October, the Network sponsors monthly mixers at artful locations in an effort to bring the creative community together for dialogue and creative action.

LongBeachCulture.org is a free arts portal that provides powerful on-line tools designed to empower artists of all kinds to promote themselves, their work, and their events. It has been serving the community for more than 6 years. Visit the website for continuing and updated information on the community forums.

For further information:

Antonio Pedro Ruiz, 562-430-8637

Sander Roscoe Wolff, 562-716-8088

Host: The Creativity Network, LongBeachCulture.org and Viento y Agua
Location: Viento y Agua Gallery/Coffee House
4007 E. 4th Street, Long Beach, CA View Map
When: Thursday, September 28, 6:30pm to 8:30pm
Phone: 562-434-1182

Ramón Rodriguez will be presenting “Amazonas” featuring oil paintings, watercolors and sculpture inspired by the Amazon region in the Andes near where he grew up. His use of vivid colors contrasted with the earth tones of his native Bolivia draw in the spectator for a wonderful visual experience. Ramón will give a brief artist talk and play a few pieces of Bolivian folkloric music on native Bolivian instruments. By the way, his show opens in the Gallery on September 23rd from 6-9 pm.

And as if that’s not enough, Big Wow Studio, down the block from Viento y Agua, will open its doors for a tour of the visual art studio/gallery of Rick Frausto and Margie Darrow.

Please bring wine or a refreshment along with any special appetizers you would like to share. The Coffee House does have coffees, teas, other refreshments and salads for sale.

There will be acoustic music entertainment on the coffee house stage following Ramon’s presentation.

Please email your RSVP to areallybigboom@aol.com. For more information, call Antonio Pedro Ruiz by phone at 562-430-8637.

CREATIVITY IS……..ACTION!

The Wood Sculpture of William Hunter, 1970-2005

October 6 – December 10, 2006

Press Preview Reception with Artist William Hunter, Thursday, October 5, 2006, 5 -6 p.m.

Long Beach, CA — Transforming Vision: The Wood Sculpture of William Hunter, 1970-2005 is the first retrospective exhibition of the work of seminal American artist William Hunter, a native of Long Beach who is currently based in Rancho Palos Verdes in Los Angeles. The exhibition documents Hunter’s emergence as a sculptor of groundbreaking significance, presenting 70 works borrowed from public and private collections throughout the United States. Featuring work produced over the past three decades, Transforming Vision demonstrates Hunter’s artistic development beginning with utilitarian objects such as bowls, clocks, pipes, hand mirrors and candle sticks and continues with his exquisite decorative forms in a variety of rare and exotic woods. The exhibition also explores work produced in collaboration with his wife Marianne Hunter, a nationally prominent enamelist and jeweler.

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